Deputies to Beef Up Patrols This Weekend in Dana Point to Catch Drunk Drivers

From the Orange County Sheriff’s Department:

Deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department DUI Task Force will be deploying this weekend to stop and arrest alcohol and drug-impaired drivers in the Department’s ongoing traffic safety campaign.

DUI Saturation Patrols will deploy on Friday, Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. until Saturday, Aug. 2 at 3 a.m. in the cities of Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. These patrols will be targeting areas with high frequencies of DUI collisions and/or arrests.

“Don’t drink and drive or you will be arrested for DUI,” said Deputy Shane Stewart of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Traffic Bureau. “This is a ‘Zero Tolerance’ crackdown so Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over!”

The goal of the program is to reduce the rate at which the citizens of Orange County are killed or injured in DUI related collisions. Through implementation of these events, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department hopes to significantly reduce deaths, injuries and property damage in each of our contract cities.

After falling dramatically for five straight years, figures for 2012 show an increase to 802 deaths because someone failed to designate a sober driver. Over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have claimed 21 lives and resulted in 500 injuries of our friends and neighbors within Sheriff’s Department contract areas.

DUI can impact the economy in addition to the pain and suffering of those immediately affected. Conservatively, a fatality collision has a $1.4 million impact, an injury collision $70,000 and a crash that only damages property averages nearly $9,000.

Funding for this program is from a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Report Drunk Drivers, Call 911!